Firenze!

The Ponte Vecchio

We are in Florence! We have been here for almost three weeks. Our apartment is great, located in the center and within walking distance of everything. We have been doing a lot of walking, which we love. In Los Angeles, no body goes out for walks. There is even a song that jokes about how “No Body Walks in L.A.”. Which is weird since the weather is so nice most of the year, but the city is not really “set up” for walking. People do not usually go walking to the market, or to go shopping, or even to a coffee shop. When they want to go somewhere they take the car- it’s faster. When we were living in the Marina we would see a few people walking around, but they were mostly surfers going to and from a session, or moms with strollers, and the dog walkers. Never, or extremely rarely, would we see young people or working business people out walking. I would have to say that Venice Beach is the most “walker friendly” area, and still the walkers would stick to the board walk on the beach and a few famous streets, such as Abbot Kinney and Main Street, but nothing close to Florence.

A very tasty resturant called Caffe Italiano, located close to Santa Croce, and near Vivoli (the best Gelato place).

Florence on the other hand, is a great city for walking. Not only is everyone walking but there are restricted zones where no cars are allowed creating a pedestrian friendly environment. There are all kinds of people from the sight seeing tourist, Americans, Chinese, Japonese, Spaniards, Swiss, and of course many Italians, and locals going to work. Florence is like Disneyland times a thousand with bus loads of people, massive must-sees that everyone wants to “hit”, and endless amazement. Just about every street has an alluring restaurant, or a Bar – as in a coffee bar with delicious sweet and salty pastries, and many little designer shops. You will walk by Salvatore Ferragamo, Gucci, or Prada, the Medici Palace, the Pitti Palace, the Ponte Vecchio, and lets not forget the Piazza della Repubblica, or the infamous Duomo that is, literally, one mind boggling building of amazement. Every building far older than the discovery of America, grand, full of decoration and embellishments, and are in architectural classes as examples of proportion perfection. The energy in the city is also fantastic. Like I said before, all the people ecstatic to be walking on the same stones as Leonardo Di Vinci and Michelangelo, and I have to admit I would have to agree with them. But, also the motorini ( Vespas, small motorcycles), the amazing small, and the cutest cars you will ever see, whizzing by you closer than comfort, the markets, and the smells in the air from the restaurants, bars, bread shops ( Paneterie). Well, you get the idea. This city is truly amazing.

Our first week here we went to the coast, about an hour away from Florence. We went to the Forte Dei Marmi which is in the center of Versilia. We also went to the marina where we will be keeping our boat ( the Open 5.70). The little marina is a funny little place but cute, not too expensive and had a yacht club, so it seemed like the most logical place for our little boat and we are once again members of a yacht club.

Vercilia is a beautiful place on the water. Since it is spring there was a good amout of people but Gimmy said in the summer it would be so crowded it is impossible to drive a car on the streets because the traffic is so bad and very hard to find a place to sit on the beach, unless you rent a cabana.

We also went to Fiesole, a beautiful little town in the hills just outside of Florence.

We took a walk threw a Roman amphitheater and a museum that recovered artifacts from the site. We had fun being the only people outside walking around the ancient ruins, which is another highly trafficked area during tourist season. The museum housed some articles from the Romans and the Etruscans. It was an interesting museum and we were bombarded with facts of the ancient life (remember history class?). There were many items recovered, including tools, pots, utensils for eating, figurines and a skeleton. After the museum we walked on top of a hill where it is known to have the best view of Florence and the hills of Tuscany surrounding. It was an amazing view but I did not take a picture as it would not do it justice.

Sisi and her Mamma

An Anniversary and an Easter

No ADA!

Those Italian babies!

One year later!

Last Sunday was our first anniversary! This year, our anniversary was on the same day as Easter. We went to Pizzo, the town were we married, with Gimmy’s family to the same restaurant we had our reception for our anniversary and Easter lunch. The restaurant is one of the best in the area with excellent food and service.

Gimmy's family bought us a cake like the one we have for our wedding and it said " Buon Anniversario"

Gimmy, being the magnificent husband he his, bought me a beautiful pedant necklace with emeralds and briliantini diamonds. It is so pretty I want to wear it every day!

Me, holding my Easter egg!

We were very happy and had a fun time remembering our wedding, only a year ago! Reminiscing when we were getting ready for the ceremony, walking down the alley, the priest and all his mighty talking, our wonderful guests, the communion, the sharing vows ( in Italian), telling each other how much we love one another, and the memorable first kiss…on my forehead! This particular priest and church were, let’s say, “old school”, no kissing on the lips allowed inside the church, even goes for married couples! Of course, after the ceremony, we got our kiss outside the entry doors as everyone was tossing rice at us and cheering! It was a beautiful and memorable wedding that we will never forget. Gimmy's family!

Another thing in Italy, is that they do not have an Easter egg hunt, nor is there an Easter bunny. There is an Easter dove, but it is not represented the same way. They do give Easter eggs but they are a huge chocolate (hollow with a surprise inside) and wrapped up like in the photo below.

Procession of the Naca

On Good Friday we attended the Procession of the Naca. The Procession of the Naca is a recreation of Jesus Christ carrying the cross towards his crucifixion.

The whole event is a big parade with people in costume with the entire city watching from the streets and from the near by apartments the parade goes by.

In the parade are the people from each church in Roman costumes, Jesus Christ carrying the cross, people carrying flags representing different departments, firefighters, police, all the city and county officials, politians, and musicians.

The center of the parade is the “Naca” which are the angels making the cradle for the dyeing Jesus and a lighted star above them.

The finale is the “Addolorata”, which means “in pain”, and is the statue of the grieving Mary all dressed in black.

This was a fantastic parade! This was a much bigger event than the Sepolcri. We were first in an area where there were so many people we could only see the tops of the crosses and flags. People were standing together, shoulder to shoulder, talking, watching and taking pictures. I too wanted in on the action, Gimmy suggested to stand on the car that was blocked by all the people to take some pictures or to climb up onto a gated window. I did neither of these but we both wanted a better view, so we took a route to a different location. It was a better spot, although we were still in the back of all the people, I found a cement block to stand on to take pictures. There was even a camera crew getting footage of the event, and since I was up so high, and kind of singled out, they were filming me taking pictures of all the activity.

After we saw the parade we walked to, Gimmy’s friend, Venturino’s house for a Calabrese dinner. Which is the obvious, a dinner, but what you eat are different appetizers like an antipasta (no pasta). We had salame, and another kind of salame that is not sliced into pieces but is used as a spread on toasted bread. Different kinds of cheese, baked olives, preserved mushrooms in vinegar, sun dried tomatoes, tiny artichokes about the size of a marble and also preserved in some kind of vinegar, and you eat all of these very tasty things with freshly baked bread from that morning.

Venturino and his wife, Daniela are both doctors, Daniela being Sisi pediatrician. In Italy, the patients will bring gifts to their doctor, which can be an Easter basket or a food such as salame, cheese, or a sweet for the holidays. Since Venturino and Daniela are both doctors, their dining room table was filled with gifts and they were so nice to share these special foods with us for the Calabrese dinner. There is a joke that what ever you give to your doctor must be the best because you don’t want to disappoint him or her. And, yes, the food was some of the best!

The Sepolcri

In Italy, Easter is a big deal. Last Thursday night, the day before Good Friday, was the Sepolcri, which is the celebration of the mystery of Eucarestia. The Eucarestia is the sacrament of the communion. It consists of decorations, mostly of beautiful flowers, on the alter which contains the bread for communion on Good Friday.

As part of the display were green wheat sprouts in little pots, representing the passage from the darkness of death to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. All the churches participate in decorating their alters and the people go from church to church to view these displays.
It is a great social event, especially in smaller cities, like Catanzaro, because you bump (literally) into people you know. There are so many people out walking the streets to the churches. It is unlike anything I have seen in the U.S. I was surprised at all the people that attend this religion based event. There were teenagers, parents with babies, and the elderly, all waiting in fast moving lines and constantly crowded near the entry doors.

Inside the churches are people sitting in the pews, and again in another line waiting to have a closer look at the displays at the alter. Because the event occurs at night it makes it seem more dramatic, it is also exciting and you can’t help but to join in in celebrating because the energy from all the people walking about. This event was a routine to everyone in Italy but to me, it was such a unique and special thing that I was happy to be apart of.

After the Sepolcri, we walked to, Gimmy’s friend, Teresa’s house for drinks and a pasta dinner. There were about 8 people there, all friends of Gimmy’s from when he was a young boy. They were so happy to see Sisi, they all held her and played games to make her smile. She is doing very well with other people now, even before we moved she started to let other people hold her for longer periods of time. Now, Sisi will sometimes stay with a “stranger” for as long as until she gets tired or hungry.

The Move!

Ciao to our friends and family in California!

The day we left the Marina was beautiful, one of the best days of the year so far. We were packed and ready to go. I had to finish packing Sisi’s bag that day, since I had done one last load of laundry before the trip. My parents came down to give us a ride to the airport. We had five, big, red, bags of luggage, Sisi’s playyard/crib, and the stroller + carseat, we also had our 2 carry-ons and my extra backpack. We unloaded at the curb and said “See you in Italy!…” to my parents. Gimmy had to make a couple of trips to the Swiss airlines check in while I waited by our bags inside. While we waited for our luggage to get checked we found out that 4 out of the 5 were over weight! Thus, bought another big red bag, we opened up all four over weight bags to take out some clothes of each and put them into the new one. That was fun. It was way too crazy of a time that I did not get any pictures of that (too bad), I think Gimmy would have killed me…or would have left me at LAX. Just imagine all our luggage on the floor, opened up, taking out things and reorganizing right there in front of the check in, mean while Sisi waking up and crying. Good thing we planned to be there early!

We eventually checked in and had plenty of time before the flight. Sisi was very awake and observant. She new something was up but didn’t know what. She was looking around whenever the voice on the speakers came on. We boarded the plane first, and also found out that the bulk head we requested and double checked twice was not reserved for us. Another bummer, since our carseat did not fit where we ended up. We had to put it in the overhead compartment, at this point we both thought, “so much for our plan.” Of course it worked out fine. Sisi was able to lay down in the seat, that we got for her, in between Gimmy and me.

She was so tired that she fell asleep during take off and slept most of the whole flight. She woke up only once in he middle of the flight, when another baby was crying, she was awake for about an hour and went back to bed. I had a hard time sleeping but managed to get a few hours in. Gimmy slept also, luckily for him, he falls asleep fast and can sleep anywhere.

We changed flights in Zurich, and this plane was late to leave. Sisi was still so tired while we were waiting for the next plane she fell asleep in my arms with her head on my shoulder.

Finally arrived in Rome, we then had to find help to get all 7 of our bags and also to find a car that could fit all them and us. Literally, the mini van was the only way to go! Our journey was not over, we had to drive about five and a half hours to get to the south of Italy where Gimmy’s family lives. Sisi was pretty good, she again slept most of the way, until the last 20 minutes, when I think she had enough of traveling, and cried.

We got to Gimmy’s moms house in Catanzaro, I rescued Sisi and introduced her to her Nonna Sara. Sara was very happy to see Sisi and wanted to play with her even when it was 3 o’clock in the morning!

Sisi with her Nonna Sara.

We are in Italy!

We made it, after about 26 hours of travel. We went from Los Angeles to Zurich, Zurich to Rome, then by van ( to fit all of our 6 bags of luggage, stroller + car seat, and Sisi's playyard/crib). What a trip! Thankfully, Sisi slept threw the long plane flight with only one wake up and less than 2 minutes of crying. We are now in Catanzaro, the far south, and on monday we will drive up to Florence for 2 months. Pictures to come! We are sleepy...

We heard of the horrible earthquake on the radio, which was in L'Aquila, we were not effected by it. Thanks for the emails of concerns!